A Week of Kale

My good friends Kim and Chris have an awesome garden with all kinds of goodies.  We got a bag full of kale from them,  along with a challenge, "here hide this!"

Now kale is perfect for this hidden vegetable project, because it is a SUPERFOOD!  In fact, now don't quote me on this, but I think it might be the number 1 superfood.  Well... let me go check, hold on a sec...



Good thing you didn't quote me!  It's not number 1, and on some of the lists (none of which are the same from one website to the next) it wasn't even there!  But it was listed here on Green Superfoods, down at the bottom under leafy greens.

Well anyway, the point is, it is still very good for us, but hard to eat a lot of.  So, I steamed and pureed the whole bag, and here is what I have done with it...

I decided to use it in small amounts (so that it didn't turn the food bright green), in everything we ate this week:

1/2 cup kale puree in homemade lentil soup: it looked hilarious at first because all the kale floated on top and looked like algae!  Sorry, I tried to take a picture but I couldn't figure out how to change the lens on the camera fast enough.  It was funny though.  Once it blended in, the soup was maybe a little greener, but I think I am the only one who would notice.  We couldn't taste the kale at all.

Spoonful of kale puree in mom's green chili, on top of bean burritos: again, it may have turned it slightly greener, but no big deal, and I couldn't taste the kale it at all.

1/4 cup kale puree (and also 1/2 cup purple cabbage puree) in meatloaf:  yay! It didn't turn it all green!  Couldn't taste the kale.

Spoonful kale puree (and also 1 cup carrot puree) in the family secret tomato sauce:  if I may:  OMG this was the best sauce, I am going to continue to mix additional veggie purees into it and will make a post just for this.  So good.   Also, it did change the color slightly, but it wasn't green, just a little darker.
(we had tomato sauce twice this week:  once with tortellini's, and once on pizza)

Other not-exactly-hidden ideas I had, but haven't had the guts to try:

Green mashed potatoes
Green eggs and ham
Green pancakes
Green oatmeal

I would say that the week of kale was a success!  I think this might be a better way to add hidden veggies, just a little at a time instead of as much as I possibly can!  I also like hiding more than one vegetable puree.  Well, I'm sure I will keep pushing the limits, I just can't help it!  This week, more hidden purple cabbage...